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en-usPhys.org provides the latest news from University of CologneThe taming of the shrew: Scientists decipher the spectrum of CH5+ for the first timeFor the first time ever, a team of scientist from the University of Cologne headed by Professor Stephan Schlemmer succeeded in understanding the spectrum of the highly fluxional molecule CH5+. This insight, gained in collaboration with a Japanese colleague, was made possible by the extreme cooling of this enigmatic molecule and a highly accurate measurement of its vibrational transitions. The results will be presented on March 20, 2015 in Science magazine.http://phys.org/news345992291.html
ChemistryThu, 19 Mar 2015 14:00:03 EDTnews345992291Personalized advertising attracts more attention, makes the contents of ads easier to rememberPersonalized advertisements on the Internet not only attract more attention, they also remain in our memory longer than impersonal ads. This is the result of a study conducted by Professor Kai Kaspar from the Psychology Department of the University of Cologne in collaboration with his colleagues Moritz Köster, Marco Rüth and Dr. Kai-Christoph Hamborg in Osnabrück. Specifically, they investigated the gaze behavior of female students on websites.http://phys.org/news338383722.html
Other SciencesSun, 21 Dec 2014 11:28:57 EDTnews338383722Climate change in drylandsApproximately 40 percent of the earth's surface is covered by drylands in which average annual precipitation is lower than evaporation. The changes projected to unfold in these areas in the course of climate change are alarming. Greater variations in annual and seasonal precipitation will lead to more frequent droughts and, presumably, longer drought periods. This means that drylands are among those areas most severely affected by climate change.http://phys.org/news335612324.html
EarthWed, 19 Nov 2014 09:38:56 EDTnews335612324How do we punish norm violators?An international team of researchers including Loukas Balafoutas (University of Innsbruck), Nikos Nikiforakis (NYU Abu Dhabi) and Bettina Rockenbach (University of Cologne) has conducted pioneering research on the question of how people punish strangers for norm violating behavior. In their article on direct and indirect punishment, which appeared in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), they were able to show that both forms of punishment play an important role in the field. If possible, however, people prefer to punish indirectly by refusing to help instead of directly confronting the norm violator. The researchers were also able to show that women are more often punished directly, men more often indirectly.http://phys.org/news333788297.html
Other SciencesWed, 29 Oct 2014 07:58:24 EDTnews333788297Recycling industrial waste water: Scientists discover a new method of producing hydrogenA research group composed of Dr. Martin Prechtl, Leo Heim and their colleagues at the University of Cologne's Department of Chemistry has discovered a new method of generating hydrogen using water and formaldehyde. The generation of hydrogen from liquids is of particular interest when it comes to fuel cell technologies. The results of the project, entitled "Selective and mild hydrogen production using water and formaldehyde", have recently been published in the journal Nature Communications.http://phys.org/news316872458.html
ChemistryWed, 16 Apr 2014 13:08:25 EDTnews316872458New study shows large landmasses existed 2.7 billion years agoA Cologne working group involving Prof. Carsten Münker and Dr. Elis Hoffmann and their student Sebastian Viehmann (working with Prof. Michael Bau from the Jacobs University Bremen) have managed for the first time to determine the isotope composition of the rare trace elements Hafnium and Neodymium in 2,700 million year-old seawater by using high purity chemical sediments from Temagami Banded Iron Formation (Canada) as an archive.http://phys.org/news309001065.html
EarthWed, 15 Jan 2014 09:38:05 EDTnews309001065Sex determiner gene of honey bee more complicated that previously assumedBee colonies consist of a queen bee, lots of female worker bees and some male drones. The gene that determines the sex of the bees is much more complex than has been assumed up until now and has developed over the course of evolution at a very high rate. This is the finding of an international team of scientists under the direction of Dr. Martin Hasselmann of the Institute for Genetics of the University of Cologne. The study has been published in the renowned Oxford journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.http://phys.org/news302426581.html
BiologyThu, 31 Oct 2013 08:23:12 EDTnews302426581Popcorn in the cinema: Oral interference sabotages advertising effectsAdvertising uses repetition to increase consumers' preference for brands. Initially, novel brands gain in popularity due to repetition, which increases the likelihood that consumers later buy the brands. Particularly for novel brands, excessive exposure and repetition is necessary to establish the brand name in the first place. Remember your initial irritation upon encountering the names Yahoo, Google and Wikipedia for the first time; now they are imprinted in your brain.http://phys.org/news300944948.html
Other SciencesMon, 14 Oct 2013 04:49:26 EDTnews300944948'Tracking in Caves': On the trail of pre-historic manIn remote caves of the Pyrenees, lie precious remnants of the Ice Age undisturbed: foot and hand prints of prehistoric hunters. The tracks have remained untouched for millennia and are in excellent condition. Dr. Tilman Lenssen-Erz of the Forschungsstelle Afrika (Research Centre Africa) at the University of Cologne and Dr. Andreas Pastoors from the Neanderthal Museum in Mettmann are going on expedition to encode the secrets of the trails. Their idea: to involve the best trackers in the world in the project in order to learn even more about the tracks. San hunters from Namibia, also known as Bushmen, will be investigating the tracks. The scientific expedition will span two continents and seven weeks.http://phys.org/news289550353.html
Other SciencesTue, 04 Jun 2013 07:41:11 EDTnews289550353